We never did see the sow and teeny tiny new cub that our friends saw at Pavlof, but before we left this morning, this one came out and was munching some sedge grass on shore. There definitely will be more bears here later when the salmon are running. See last year’s post from the end of July. Left to our own devices with a comparatively short day (30nm) and a “leave … Read more
We left Sitka by 5:30am this morning to catch the early slack at Sergius Narrows. Feels nice to get off the dock after four days, but we still love Sitka (and I’m sure we’ll be back at least once this summer). We saw another minke whale on our way out, plus a few sea lions and a bunch of deer. Since we left so early, we arrived early, but it’s … Read more
This morning’s alarm was set for 4am (!!!) and we all left Deep Bay in time to catch slack at Sergius Narrows (4:50am, about 30 minutes from Deep Bay). Conditions were calm, gray, and rainy today, so not many photos were taken along the route. Along the way, Two’s Out had a mechanical problem. A new sound had appeared – vaguely like a pump. But, the sound only happened when … Read more
This was actually last night in Takatz Bay (Free Solo and Seabear). By the time we got up just before 6am this morning, everyone was gone but us! We cruised out into Chatham Strait and headed north, and conditions were blue-gray, slightly cloudy, and calm calm calm! We turned west into Peril Strait, which pretty much looked like this the entire way to Deep Bay (it was a long, boringly … Read more
Day 25 – The group left the Thomas Bay anchorage early this morning and headed north in Frederick Sound toward Pybus Bay at the south end of Admiralty Island. As we neared the Brothers Islands, the wildlife sightings began! Over at West Brother Island — a colony of sea lions (over 100 as reported by Free Solo and Seabear) as well as some orcas. The orcas came to visit Airship … Read more
Day 21 – We left Wrangell this morning to time the current at Wrangell Narrows so we could ride the flood in and the ebb out, but we were a little early and we had a pretty good current boost most of the way through (2.8kts at one point!) and we arrived in Petersburg with just under a knot with us. Wrangell Narrows was relatively traffic-free (well, traffic-light at least)…no … Read more
Airship and Free Solo left Quiet Harbor this morning after an early night (which may or may not have included a cocktail after yesterday’s alternator drama) and headed for Wrangell. Earlier in the morning there was a solo humpback hanging out at the entrance to the harbor, but we didn’t get any photos. Conditions were calm and gray along our route around the north end of Etolin Island, through Chichagof … Read more
Before we left Lowe inlet this morning, Airship pulled our crab traps and had a couple of nice keepers – after several consecutive days of empty traps. There will be crab dip tonight. We left Lowe early to find the calmer winds in Grenville Channel, and to catch the currents at a more favorable time. The wind part worked. The currents – not so much. Grenville currents are complicated and … Read more